


Picked Clean

by honestgrins



Series: Bingo! [8]
Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M, bingo: skeleton, klaroween, klaroween bingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-27 12:14:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16218821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honestgrins/pseuds/honestgrins
Summary: Caroline takes her Halloween decorations seriously. Kol takes her direction a little too seriously. (For Klaroween Bingo: Skeleton)





	Picked Clean

Klaus awoke slowly, disappointed to find Caroline's side of the bed empty. Frowning, he glanced around the bedroom for any sign of her. She wasn't one to linger when there were chores to be done, but it had become something of a challenge for him to see how long he could manage to keep her distracted while warm and rumpled from sleep.

Unfortunately for him, he could hear her whirlwind of activity throughout the compound. Rubbing his eyes, he reluctantly pulled on some clothes before heading down to the kitchen. "Sweetheart," he called out, narrowing his eyes at the various underlings he passed along the way. While Klaus enjoyed the easy way she had assumed authority since moving to New Orleans, he didn't like the level of comfort the riff-raff had within his home in the name of fulfilling her assignments. 

"Kitchen!" With a resigned sigh at her 'focused voice,' Klaus quickly gave up any hopes of distracting her from the day's battle plan for a lazy morning. She was stationed at the kitchen island with a laptop, phone, and tabbed binder spread in front of her. Klaus moved behind her, pressing a kiss to her head as he looked over her work. "It's time to decorate for Halloween," she explained without waiting for him to ask. "And before you say that it's too early or cheesy, you should know that I already have Rebekah and Kol on my side. Even Elijah has given his blessing as long as I promise to keep things tasteful, which I think means it can't look cheap."

Shrugging, Klaus reached for the mug of warm blood set next to her computer and took a swig. "Far be it from me to spoil your fun," Klaus said. "I'm surprised including Kol and Bekah is your idea of fun."

Caroline let out an annoyed grunt. "I know, but it keeps them out of my hair for the planning stages and gives them constructive tasks to complete. While Rebekah's scouting for spooky ambiance options that Elijah will approve of, Kol's in charge of pumpkins, candles, and tablecloths. Almost impossible to screw up."

His mouth twisted in amusement at such an optimistic statement that involved his younger brother. "If you say so, love."

"I'm choosing to graciously ignore the 'I told you so' brewing in your tone," she warned. "It's my first Halloween here at the compound, and I want it to be perfect."

Klaus smiled and dropped another kiss to her hair. "You're perfect," he murmured, chuckling when she swatted a hand in his direction.

"Seriously," she laughed, raising her chin up to meet his eyes. "Holidays are kind of my thing, and if I'm going to live here-"

Interrupting her with an affectionate tug of her ponytail, Klaus winked. "You're not running away on me yet."

Caroline pulled him down by the shirt for a kiss. "Of course not," she promised. "I just need you to be prepared for the level of crazy I'm about to bring into the house. I'm talking orange and black _everything_ , spiderwebs, themed music playing."

"I think I can handle it," Klaus murmured against her lips, hands smoothing down her shoulders. 

"You say that now," she sang, turning back to her plans. "Actually, how do you feel about painting some classic horror movie scenes for me? I want to switch out some of the art hanging for more relevant works."

Klaus bristled, ready to argue for the carefully curated pieces he was quite fond of. "If you must change the artwork, I'd prefer you pull from our collection rather than _film_ -"

Her face fell into an offended ire, which might have ignited a fight had Kol not burst in through the front door. "Caroline, darling, you wanted a skeleton for the front door, right?" he shouted from the foyer.

"We can hear you fine," Klaus snapped, rolling his eyes when Kol loudly made his way to the kitchen with what looked like a well-worn collection of bones. Rather than strung up like a normal decoration, though, the skeleton was piled in a clear plastic bag. "Kol-"

Caroline suddenly stood, pressing herself into Klaus's side. "Why does that bag have 'EVIDENCE' stamped on it?"

Shrugging, Kol set the bag in question on the countertop with an unsettling rattle. "Bekah asked me to help with some of her list items, and she said I wasn't allowed to just pick clean the corpse of my breakfast - even though I thought it was a perfectly rational way to reduce, reuse, and recycle like you're always making us do - so I stopped by the local morgue. This fellow had no one to collect his remains, so I figured we could give him a home. I've named him Yorick."

Klaus frowned. "You loathe Shakespeare."

Caroline poked his side. "Not the point!"

"I loathed the dreadful poetry Shakespeare inspires you to write," Kol clarified, "but I adore the man's dick jokes." He patted the bag of bones with something like camaraderie. "Yorick gets it."

As much as she wanted to disinfect the counter, Caroline couldn't help but whip her head around to Klaus. "You've never written poetry for me."

Kol snorted, "Count yourself lucky."

"Who says I haven't?" Ears flushing pink, Klaus sighed. "Let's go out for breakfast," he said, glaring at Kol who was bowled over laughing. "Yorick will be gone by the time we get back."

Allowing him to lead her out of the kitchen, Caroline turned back to Kol with a stern wag of her finger. "And give him a good burial, someplace nice!"

Left alone with the jumbled skeleton, Kol gave a mournful pout. "Unhappy Halloween for you, Yorick. But you should have a nap in Bekah's bed, I think. She'll be so surprised to see you." With a mischievous grin, he whistled as he carried the bag upstairs to her bedroom.


End file.
